FoodieAGoGo & Me: Pasta Tools, Needed or Not

The only pasta I've ever made from scratch is Gnocchi. It was very good but very time consuming. I want to get better at it so I get faster and also next time I will make it one day and freeze it for a later date.

As part of my 2011 New Years Resolutions, I want to master certain recipes and one of them is making fresh pasta. I don't know if it would be worth it or not but I want to try. The tool I want is the attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer but it is pricey. Then the other night I saw Good Eats and he was rolling out cracker dough in the machine. Now I have to have it. As I remove processed foods from my diet and try and make everything from scratch, crackers have been something I was resigned to always buying. Who makes crackers? Then I saw Good Eats and guess what Alton Brown does and so now I must at least try it. My birthday is coming up so maybe I'll put this on my birthday list.

Here are some tools that can help me with my pasta making adventure.

I have a Kitchen Aid mixer to first I want the pasta attachment. Problem is, it is pricey so if I don't use it what a waist of money. The set of 6 from Chefs Catalog is Item# 22958 for $299.95 + $30 shipping (WOW). Good news is that it's not made in China. Bad news, not the USA. It's made in Italy which is much better than Asia. If it's not the USA then I would rather support the European countries.

You can also do a roller and two cutters Item # 90350 for $149.95.

You can also get a manual pasta maker if you don't have a Kitchen Aid mixer like this one at Williams Sonoma, Item# 28-9570466 for $89.95. This is priced a lot better but since I have the Kitchen Aid mixer purchasing attachments vs buying another appliance sounds like a better plan. I don't need more appliances where I can help it.